Friday, July 19, 2013

This past Wednesday, I finished up a series of lectures I was giving at Lasell Village. I taught eight classes on the works of Benjamin Britten, and eight classes on the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. At the end of each class, I had everyone vote for their favorite work - it's a nice way of having a final discussion, and it's always interesting to me to see what people go for.

In the Britten class, the votes fell out as follows:

Peter Grimes won with six votes.The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and the War Requiem tied with three votes each.
The Third String Quartet came next, with two votes.
And Curlew River and Sacred and Profane got one vote each.

For the Gilbert and Sullivan class:

The Gondoliers narrowly beat out The Mikado, with HMS Pinafore coming in third. Yeomen of the Guard got two votes, while Patience, Iolanthe, and Trial By Jury each got one.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

This past Monday Cantilena hosted our second summer sing! The theme was "classics of women's choral repertoire" (that is, "whatever the conductor feels like") and it was just as fun as the first one! For those who are interested, here is the repertoire list! (The repertoire list for the first sing is here.)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

So, last Monday night I hosted my first summer sing with Cantilena, and it went very well! I was really impressed with the level of reading ability among all the folks who showed up. The repertoire got increasingly more difficult throughout the sing, but we got through absolutely everything I threw at them!

A summer sing with a women's chorus is of course different from most summer sings, because the repertoire was unfamiliar to everyone. In most summer sings with SATB groups, you can rely on most of the people in the room having already sung the Brahms Requiem or the Mozart Requiem or Vivaldi's Gloria at least once already. But there is no repertoire for women's chorus that is SO well known that I can rely on the majority of the group knowing it, with the possible exception of Britten's Ceremony of Carols, which is hardly appropriate for July. So everyone is really sight-reading!

Therefore I had to choose repertoire that I thought would be readable as well as interesting and fun! Here's what I came up with under the topic of French sacred music for women's choirs (I included links to the CPDL to some of them):

She has generously agreed to do a book giveaway on this blog! If you would like Stacy Horn to mail you a free copy of her book, please leave a comment here describing a fond memory you have of singing with other people. (It doesn't have to be the-very-best-memory-ever. Just a positive memory that pops into your head!) I'll choose someone using a random number generator one week from today, and contact you to get your mailing address, so be sure to leave contact info in your comment.

Monday, July 08, 2013

Calling all sopranos and altos! If you are free tonight, I hope you will come to Cantilena's first summer sing! Tonight we are going to be singing French sacred music for women's voices. (Next week is a little broader - just doing some of the most popular works for women's chorus out there.) Both sings are at 7:30 pm, at First Parish Arlington, 630 Mass. Ave, Arlington. Easily accessible by T (77 bus) and there is plenty of parking! And there will be SNACKS! See you there, and spread the word!

Friday, July 05, 2013

Here it is, your 2013 Summer Sings calendar! Apologies to those groups who have already held some sings!

I also would like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be conducting my first summer sings with Cantilena this summer! This coming Monday we will be doing French sacred works for women's voices, and on Monday, 7/15 we will be singing Best-Beloved Classics for women's choruses!

Monday, July 15, 7:30-8:30 pm
Choruses from Handel's Messiah
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore
At the First Trinitarian Congregational Church, 381 Country Way, Scituate, MA

Monday, August 12, 7:30-8:30pm
Opera, Operetta, and Broadway Choruses
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore
At the First Trinitarian Congregational Church, 381 Country Way, Scituate, MA

About Me

My name is Allegra Martin, and I am a Boston-area choral conductor and singer. My jobs include: music director of Cantilena, a women's chorale in Arlington; choral conductor at Lasell College and director of the Lasell Village Voices of Experience; and music director of First Parish Cohasset. I sing in the area with Anthology, Schola Cantorum, and anyone who will hire me! I also teach private lessons in sight-reading, theory, and conducting.